Assemblies Having Conductive Structures Along Pillars of Semiconductor Material, and Methods of Forming Integrated Circuitry

ABSTRACT

Some embodiments include an assembly having pillars of semiconductor material arranged in rows extending along a first direction. The rows include spacing regions between the pillars. The rows are spaced from one another by gap regions. Two conductive structures are within each of the gap regions and are spaced apart from one another by a separating region. The separating region has a floor section with an undulating surface that extends across semiconductor segments and insulative segments. The semiconductor segments have upper surfaces which are above upper surfaces of the insulative segments; Transistors include channel regions within the pillars of semiconductor material, and include gates within the conductive structures. Some embodiments include methods for forming integrated circuitry.

RELATED PATENT DATA

This application claims priority to U.S. provisional application Ser.No. 62/609,875, which was filed Dec. 22, 2017.

TECHNICAL FIELD

Assemblies having conductive structures along pillars of semiconductormaterial, and methods of forming integrated circuitry.

BACKGROUND

Integrated circuitry may include vertically-extending pillars ofsemiconductor material. Such pillars may be arranged in an array. Thearray may be considered to comprise rows and columns; with the columnscrossing the rows.

The pillars may be incorporated into transistors. The transistors maycomprise conductive gates along the pillars. Conductive wordlines mayextend along the rows of the array, and may be electrically coupled withthe conductive gates of the transistors.

The transistors may be incorporated into memory/storage, logic, sensorsand/or any other suitable application.

A continuing goal of integrated circuit fabrication is to increaseintegration density, and an associated goal is to scale devices toincreasingly smaller dimensions. It would be desirable to developimproved methods for fabricating the above-described transistors, and todevelop new architectures comprising such transistors.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic three-dimensional view of an assembly at anexample process stage.

FIG. 2 is a top view of the assembly of FIG. 1, and FIG. 2A is across-sectional diagrammatic side view along the line A-A of FIG. 2.

FIGS. 3-11 show the construction of FIGS. 1 and 2 at example processstages of an example method for fabricating an example assembly. Theassembly of FIG. 6 may be equivalent to that of FIG. 5 in someembodiments; with the views following FIG. 6 using the manner ofillustration of FIG. 6 instead of that of FIG. 5 in order to simplifythe drawings. FIGS. 3-11 are top views of the assembly. FIGS. 3A-11A areviews along the lines A-A of FIGS. 3-11, FIGS. 7B-11B are views alongthe lines B-B of FIGS. 7-11, FIGS. 7C-11C are views along the lines C-Cof FIGS. 7-11, and FIGS. 7D-11D are views along the lines D-D of FIGS.7-11.

FIG. 12 is a diagrammatic schematic view of an example memory array.

FIGS. 13-16 show example process stages of another example method. Theprocess stage of FIG. 13 may follow that of FIG. 6. FIGS. 13A-16A areviews along the lines A-A of FIGS. 13-16, FIGS. 13B-16B are views alongthe lines B-B of FIGS. 13-16, FIGS. 13C-16C are views along the linesC-C of FIGS. 13-16, and FIGS. 13D-16D are views along the lines D-D ofFIGS. 13-16.

FIGS. 17 and 18 show example process stages of another example method.The process stage of FIG. 17 may follow that of FIG. 3. FIGS. 17A and18A are views along the lines A-A of FIGS. 17 and 18.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE ILLUSTRATED EMBODIMENTS

Some embodiments include methods for fabricating transistors. Thetransistors may have channel regions within vertically-extending pillarsof semiconductor material, and may have gates along the pillars. Thesemiconductor material pillars may be formed within an array, with sucharray having rows extending along a first direction and columnsextending along a second direction which intersects the first direction.The rows may initially comprise the semiconductor material pillarsalternating with insulative material. Subsequently, the insulativematerial may be recessed, or even entirely removed from between thesemiconductor material pillars, and then conductive lines may be formedto extend along the rows of the semiconductor material pillars. Theconductive lines may include regions corresponding to the gates of thetransistors, and such regions may wrap partially, or even entirely,around the semiconductor material pillars. The semiconductor materialpillars may comprise channel regions of the transistors, and the wrap ofthe transistor gates around the semiconductor material pillars mayadvantageously enable strong coupling between the gates and the channelregions during operation of the transistors.

Transistors fabricated according to methodology described herein may beutilized in any suitable application(s); including, for example,memory/storage, logic, sensors, etc.

Example embodiments are described with reference to FIGS. 1-18.

A first example method for fabricating example integrated circuitry isdescribed with reference to FIGS. 1-11.

Referring to FIG. 1, an assembly (i.e., construction) 10 comprises astructure 14 supported by a base 12. The base 12 may comprisesemiconductor material; and may, for example, comprise, consistessentially of, or consist of monocrystalline silicon. The base 12 maybe referred to as a semiconductor substrate. The term “semiconductorsubstrate” means any construction comprising semiconductive material,including, but not limited to, bulk semiconductive materials such as asemiconductive wafer (either alone or in assemblies comprising othermaterials), and semiconductive material layers (either alone or inassemblies comprising other materials). The term “substrate” refers toany supporting structure, including, but not limited to, thesemiconductor substrates described above. In some applications, the base12 may correspond to a semiconductor substrate containing one or morematerials associated with integrated circuit fabrication. Such materialsmay include, for example, one or more of refractory metal materials,barrier materials, diffusion materials, insulator materials, etc. A gapis provided between the substrate 12 and the structure 14 to indicatethat there may be other materials, circuitry, etc., between the base 12and the structure 14. For instance, insulative material may be providedbetween the structure 14 and the base 12.

The structure 14 comprises a plurality of conductive lines 16 whichextend along a first direction, with the first direction beingdiagrammatically indicated with an axis 5. The conductive lines 16 maycorrespond to digit lines associated with a memory array, and/or maycorrespond to circuitry associated with logic, sensors, etc.

The conductive lines 16 may comprise any suitable electricallyconductive composition(s); and in some embodiments may, for example,include one or more of various metals (e.g., titanium, tungsten, cobalt,nickel, ruthenium, platinum, etc.), metal-containing compositions (e.g.,metal silicide, metal nitride, metal carbide, etc.), and/orconductively-doped semiconductor materials (e.g., conductively-dopedsilicon, conductively-doped germanium, etc.).

First rails 18 are directly over the conductive lines 16, and extendalong the first direction of axis 5. Second rails 20 are between thefirst rails 18. The first and second rails 18 and 20 alternate with oneanother along a second direction, with the second direction beingdiagrammatically illustrated with an axis 7. The second directionrepresented by the axis 7 crosses the first direction represented by theaxis 5. In some embodiments, the second direction represented by theaxis 7 may be substantially orthogonal to the first directionrepresented by the axis 5, with the term “substantially orthogonal”meaning orthogonal to within reasonable tolerances of fabrication andmeasurement.

The first rails 18 comprise semiconductor material 22, and the secondrails 20 comprise insulative material 24.

The semiconductor material 22 may comprise any suitable composition orcombination of compositions; and in some embodiments may comprise one ormore of silicon, germanium, III/V materials, semiconductor oxides, etc.

The insulative material 24 may comprise any suitable composition orcombination of compositions; and in some embodiments may comprise,consist essentially of, or consist of silicon dioxide.

The first rails 18 are capped with a protective capping material 26. Theprotective capping material 26 may comprise any suitable composition orcombination of compositions; and in some embodiments may comprise,consist essentially of, or consist of silicon nitride.

In some embodiments, the materials 24 and 26 may be referred to as firstand second materials, respectively; with the first material 24 beingselectively etchable relative to the second material 26.

The assembly 10 of FIG. 1 may be fabricated with any suitableprocessing. Persons ordinary skill in the art will recognize suitablemethods for fabricating such assembly.

The three-dimensional view of FIG. 1 is helpful for explaining therelationship between the rails 18 and 20, and the relationship betweenthe structure 14 and the underlying base 12. However, methodology of thepresent invention may be easier to describe using two-dimensional viewsrather than with three-dimensional views. Accordingly, FIGS. 2 and 2Aare provided to illustrate construction 10 with two-dimensional views.FIG. 2 shows a top view of construction 10, and FIG. 2A shows across-sectional view along the line A-A of FIG. 2. The underlying base12 is not shown in FIG. 2A in order to simplify the drawing, but it isto be understood that the appropriate base may be provided to supportthe illustrated structure of FIGS. 2 and 2A.

Referring to FIGS. 3 and 3A, the second rails 20 are recessed relativeto the first rails 18; and specifically, the insulative material 24 ofthe second rails 18 is recessed relative to the protective cappingmaterial 26 and the semiconductor material 22 of the first rails 18.Such recessing may be accomplished utilizing one or more appropriateetches. The recessing forms trenches 28, with such trenches extendingalong the first direction of axis 5. In some embodiments, the trenches28 may be referred to as first trenches to distinguish them from othertrenches formed during subsequent processing.

The second rails 20 are recessed to a depth D. Such depth may be anysuitable depth, and in some embodiments is within a range of from about20 nanometers (nm) to about 100 nm. In the shown embodiment, the secondrails 20 are recessed to a depth below bottom surfaces 27 of theprotective capping material 26.

Referring to FIGS. 4 and 4A, a material 30 is formed over the protectivecapping material 26 and within the trenches 28. In some embodiments, thematerials 26 and 30 may be referred to as first and second protectivecapping materials, respectively. The second protective capping material30 may comprise a same composition as the first protective cappingmaterial 26. For instance, in some embodiments the first and secondprotective capping materials 26 and 30 may both comprise, consistessentially of, or consist of silicon nitride. Alternatively, the secondprotective capping material 30 may comprise a different compositionrelative to the first protective capping material 26. For instance, insome embodiments the second protective capping material 30 may comprise,consist essentially of, or consist of carbon-doped silicon dioxide;while the first protective capping material 26 comprises, consistsessentially of, or consists of silicon nitride. Although materials 26and 30 are shown to be homogeneous materials, in some embodiments one orboth of them may include two or more different compositions. Forinstance, FIGS. 17 and 18 (described below) illustrate an embodiment inwhich the second protective capping material 30 comprises both siliconnitride and silicon dioxide.

In some embodiments, the protective capping materials 26 and 30 aresacrificial materials; and in such embodiments the protective materials26 and 30 may comprise any materials having suitable etch properties,including metals, oxides, nitride, carbide, silicide, etc.

In some embodiments, at least one of the protective materials 26 and 30remains in a final construction, and in such embodiments it may bedesired that the remaining protective material have physical propertiessuitable for its remaining location in an integrated circuit. Forinstance, it may be desired that any portions of the protectivematerials 26 and 30 remaining in a final construction be electricallyinsulative.

Referring to FIGS. 5 and 5A, assembly 10 is subjected to a suitableplanarization process (for instance, chemical-mechanical polishing) toform a planarized surface 29 extending across an upper surface of theassembly 10. In the illustrated embodiment, the polishing removes thesecond protective capping material 30 from over the first protectivecapping material 26, while leaving the second protective cappingmaterial 30 within the trenches 28.

FIGS. 5 and 5A show materials 26 and 30 as separate materials which aredistinguishable from one another. However, in some embodiments thematerials may be a common composition with one another, and accordinglymay merge to form a single composition extending across the rails 18 and20. Such is illustrated in FIGS. 6 and 6A, where the materials 26 and 30merge to form a single material 26/30. It will simplify the drawingswhich follow to show only the single protective material 26/30, ratherthan the separate materials 26 and 30. However, it is to be understoodthat even though the drawings following FIG. 6 show materials 26 and 30merging into a single material 26/30, in some embodiments the materials26 and 30 may comprise different compositions from one another ratherthan comprising a common composition.

Referring to FIGS. 7-7D, trenches 32 are formed to extend along thesecond direction of axis 7. The trenches 32 extend through theprotective capping material 26/30 and into the first and second rails 18and 20. The trenches 32 are spaced from one another by interveningregions 34 (which may be referred to as intervening linear structures insome embodiments). The intervening regions 34 comprise alternating firstand second pillars 36 and 38 (as shown in FIG. 7A); with the firstpillars 36 comprising semiconductor material 22, and the second pillars38 comprising insulative material 24. In some embodiments, the trenches32 may be referred to as second trenches to distinguish them from thefirst trenches 28 described above with reference to FIG. 3.

The first pillars 36 of semiconductor material 22 may be considered tobe patterned into rows 40 after the formation of trenches 32, with eachrow being along the intervening regions 34 and extending along thesecond direction of axis 7 (one of the rows 40 is visible in thecross-sectional view of FIG. 7A). The first pillars 36 (i.e., thesemiconductor material pillars) within each of the rows 40 may beconsidered to be spaced from one another by the insulative material 24of the second pillars 38.

The trenches 32 have sidewall edges 31 (shown in FIGS. 7, 7C and 7D) andbottom edges 33 (shown in FIGS. 7B-7D). The semiconductor pillars 36have sidewalls 37 along the sidewall edges 31 of the trenches 32, andthe insulative pillars 38 have sidewalls 39 along the sidewall edges 31.

The trenches 32 may be formed with any suitable processing. Forinstance, a patterned mask (not shown) may be provided over the assembly10 to define locations of the trenches 32, and the trenches 32 may thenbe etched into the materials 22, 24 and 26/30 utilizing one or moresuitable etches. Subsequently, the patterned mask may be removed toleave the construction of FIGS. 7-7D.

A problem that may occur during the etching utilized to form trenches 32is that the semiconductor material 22 may etch differently than theinsulative material 24. For instance, it may be found that the sidewalls39 along the insulative material pillars 38 are less vertical than thesidewalls 37 along the sidewall edges of the semiconductor materialpillars 36. Ideally, the sidewalls should be substantially vertical(with the term “substantially vertical” meaning vertical to withinreasonable tolerances of fabrication and measurement). For instance, itmay be desired that the sidewalls 31 of the trenches 32 be orthogonal(i.e., oriented at a 90° angle) relative to an upper surface of the base12 (FIG. 1), with such orthogonal direction being represented by an axis9 in FIGS. 7C and 7D. If the sidewalls are more than 1.5° off from thevertical axis 9, the taper along the sidewalls may problematicallyinterfere with subsequent processing. In the illustrated application,the sidewalls 37 along the conductive material pillars 36 are shown tobe substantially vertical (FIG. 7C), while the sidewalls along theinsulative material pillars 38 are shown to be non-vertical (FIG. 7D).

Referring to FIGS. 8-8D, the sidewalls 39 of the insulative materialpillars 38 (i.e., the second pillars) are recessed relative to thesidewalls 37 of the semiconductor pillars 36 (i.e., the first pillars).Such recessing may be accomplished with any suitable etch or combinationof etches, including, for example, a wet etch selective for an oxidematerial 24 (e.g., silicon dioxide) relative to the semiconductormaterial 22 (e.g., silicon) and the protective capping materials 26/30(e.g., silicon nitride). In some embodiments, the etching utilized toselectively recess the sidewalls 39 of the insulative material 38 mayutilize hydrofluoric acid, a plasma etch, and/or a reactive ion etch.

In the illustrated embodiment, the sidewalls 38 are etched until thesidewalls are substantially vertical, and until they are recessed to beinset relative to sidewall edges of the protective capping materials26/30 along the intervening regions 34 (as shown in FIG. 8D), with suchinsetting leaving overhanging edges 42 of the protective materials 26/30over the insulative material pillars 38.

After the sidewalls 39 of the insulative material pillars 38 arerecessed, the trenches 32 may be considered to be converted into linearguides 44 which extend along the second direction of axis 7. Such linearguides have sidewall regions 31 comprising the rows 40 of thesemiconductor pillars 36. The linear guides 44 have sidewall segmentsalong the sidewall regions 31, with such sidewall segments comprisingthe sidewalls 37 of the semiconductor pillars 36, and comprising thesidewalls 39 of the insulative material pillars 38. In other embodiments(as discussed below with reference to FIGS. 13-16), the recessing of theinsulative material pillars 38 may entirely remove the insulativematerial pillars 38 from between the second material pillars 36 alongthe rows 40, and accordingly the sidewall regions 31 of the linearguides 44 may comprise sidewalls 37 of the semiconductor pillars 36 andnot the sidewalls 39 of the insulative material pillars 38. Such mayadvantageously enable gate wrap-around assemblies to be constructed, asdiscussed in more detail below with reference to FIGS. 13-16.

Referring to FIGS. 9-9D, insulative material spacers 48 (shown in FIGS.9B-9D) are provided along the bottoms of the guide regions 44. Theinsulative material spacers 48 may comprise any suitable material suchas, for example, one or more of silicon dioxide, silicon nitride, etc.The insulative material spacers are ultimately utilized to offset abottom of a transistor gate relative to the semiconductor pillars 36.Persons ordinary skill in the art can determine an appropriate thicknessfor the insulative material spacers 48 to accomplish the desired offset.

Gate dielectric material 46 is formed along the sidewalls 37 of thesemiconductor material pillars 36. In the shown embodiment, the gatedielectric material 46 extends over the pillars 36 and 38, and along thesidewalls 39 of the insulative material pillars 38, as well as along thesidewalls 37 of the semiconductor pillars 36. Such may occur inapplications in which the gate dielectric material is uniformlydeposited across all surfaces of the construction 10. In otherembodiments, the gate dielectric material 46 may be grown fromsemiconductor material 22 of the pillars 36 (for instance, if thesemiconductor material 22 comprises silicon, the gate dielectricmaterial 46 may comprise silicon dioxide grown along surfaces of thesilicon), and in such embodiments the gate dielectric material 46 may beonly formed along the sidewalls 37 of the semiconductor material pillars36.

Conductive material 50 is formed over the gate dielectric material 46.The conductive material 50 may comprise any suitable composition(s),such as, for example, one or more of various metals (e.g., titanium,tungsten, cobalt, nickel, ruthenium, platinum, etc.), metal-containingcompositions (e.g., metal silicide, metal nitride, metal carbide, etc.),and/or conductively-doped semiconductor materials (e.g.,conductively-doped silicon, conductively-doped germanium, etc.). In someembodiments, the conductive material 50 may comprise metal; and mayinclude, for example, one or more of titanium, tantalum tungsten,ruthenium, titanium nitride, tantalum nitride, tungsten nitride, etc.

Referring to FIGS. 10-10D, the conductive material 50 and gatedielectric material 46 are etched. Such etching forms the conductivematerial 50 into linear conductive structures 52. The linear conductivestructures 52 extend along the second direction of axis 7, and arespaced from the semiconductor material pillars 36 by the gate dielectricmaterial 46.

In some embodiments, the linear conductive structures 52 may beincorporated into wordlines. For instance, in the shown embodiment theconductive structures are incorporated into wordlines 55-59. Notably,each wordline comprises a pair of the linear conductive structures 52;with the paired linear conductive structures of each wordline includingone linear conductive structure on one side of a row of thesemiconductor material pillars 36, and another linear conductivestructure on an opposing side of the row of the semiconductor materialpillars 36. The paired linear conductive structures of each wordline areelectrically coupled one another, as will be understood by persons ofordinary skill in the art. Such coupling may occur at any suitablelocation.

Notably, two separated linear conductive structures 52 are within eachof the guide regions 44; with each of the linear conductive structureswithin a single guide region corresponding to portions of differentwordlines. For instance, one of the guide regions is labeled as 44 a inFIG. 10C, and such guide region has two linear structures 52 therein;with one of the linear structures corresponding to a portion of thewordline 56, and the other corresponding to a portion of the wordline57.

The processing described herein advantageously provides substantiallyvertical sidewalls along the insulative pillars 38 (shown in FIG. 10D),which can enable appropriate spacing between the linear conductivestructures 52 to be maintained along the entire span of the guideregions 44. Such may eliminate undesired shorting between adjacentlinear structures 52 which may otherwise occur. Also, the processingdescribed herein advantageously forms the overhanging edges 42 of theprotective materials 26/30 over the insulative material pillars 38(shown in FIG. 10D). In some applications, such overhanging regions maydefine a location for the top surface of the linear conductivestructures 52, as shown. Such may enable the linear conductivestructures 52 to be readily patterned into configurations suitable forincorporation into transistors (with example transistors being describedbelow with reference to FIGS. 11-11D).

Referring to FIGS. 11-11D, assembly 10 is illustrated in accordance withan application in which the linear conductive structures 52 areincorporated into wordlines 55-59 associated with a memory array 60. Thewordlines 55-59 extend along opposing sides of the rows 40 of thesemiconductor material pillars 36. The individual pillars 36 areincorporated into transistors 62; with each transistor having an uppersource/drain region 64, a lower source/drain region 66, and a channelregion 68 between the upper and lower source/drain regions. Approximatelower boundaries of the upper source/drain regions are indicated withdashed lines, and approximate upper boundaries of the lower source/drainregions are also indicated with dashed lines. The source/drain regions64 and 66 may be doped with any suitable conductivity-enhancingdopant(s), and may be n-type doped or p-type doped. Also, the channelregions 62 may be doped with any suitable dopant to achieve a desiredthreshold voltage. The dopants may be provided within the source/drainregions 64 and 66, and the channel region 62, at any suitable processingstage. Such process stage may be, for example, prior to the illustratedprocessing stage of FIG. 1 for at least some of the dopants, and may besubsequent to the process stage of FIG. 10 for others of the dopants.

The bottom source/drain regions 66 are coupled with the digit lines 16.

The transistors 62 are gated by gates 70 corresponding to regions of thewordlines 55-59 which are adjacent the semiconductor material pillars36, and spaced from such pillars by the gate dielectric material 46.

The protective capping material 26/30 is removed at the processing stageof FIGS. 11-11D. In other embodiments, at least some of the protectivecapping material may remain after formation of the transistors 62.

Memory cells 72 are coupled with the source/drain regions 64 of thetransistors 62. The memory cells 72 may comprise any suitableconfigurations, and in some embodiments may be capacitors, phase changememory cells, resistive random access memory cells, conductive bridgingmemory cells, etc.

In operation, each of the memory cells 72 may be uniquely addressed by adigit line 16 and one of the wordlines 55-59. For instance, FIG. 12schematically illustrates an example memory array 60 comprising accesstransistors 62 in combination with memory cells 72. The memory arrayalso comprises wordlines WL1, WL2 and WL3, and digit lines DL1, DL2, DL3and DL4. The wordlines may correspond to wordlines of the type shown inFIGS. 11-11D as wordlines 55-59, and the digit lines may correspond todigit lines of the type shown in FIGS. 11-11D as digit lines 16.

The access transistors 62 of FIG. 12 comprise gates coupled with thewordlines, source/drain regions coupled with the digit lines, and othersource/drain regions coupled with the memory cells. In operation, eachof the memory cells 72 may be uniquely addressed through a combinationof one of the wordlines and one of the digit lines.

The wordlines WL1, WL2 and WL3 of FIG. 12 are shown extending tocircuitry 74, and the digit lines DL1, DL2, DL3 and DL4 are shownextending to circuitry 76. In some applications, the circuitry 74 maycorrespond to driver circuitry, and the circuitry 76 may correspond tosensing circuitry.

Although FIGS. 11 and 12 show the transistor constructions incorporatedinto memory/storage, it is to be understood that the transistorconstructions described herein may be alternatively, or additionally,incorporated into logic, sensors, or any other suitable circuitry.

The embodiment of FIGS. 11-11D forms wordlines 55-59 which only wrappartially around the semiconductor material pillars 36. In otherembodiments, the wordlines may be formed to wrap entirely around thesemiconductor material pillars. An example of such other embodiments isdescribed with reference to FIGS. 13-15.

Referring to FIGS. 13-13D, assembly 10 is illustrated at a process stagewhich may follow that of FIGS. 7-7D, and which may be alternative tothat described above with reference to FIGS. 8-8D. The insulativematerial 24 has been entirely removed from between the semiconductormaterial pillars 36 along the rows 40, leaving voids (e.g., air gaps) 78between the pillars 36 along the rows 40 (shown in FIG. 13A).

Referring to FIGS. 14-14D, assembly 10 is shown at a process stagefollowing that of FIGS. 13-13D, and alternative to that of FIGS. 9-9D.The insulative material spacers 48 are formed. The gate dielectricmaterial 46 is formed along sidewalls of the semiconductor materialpillars 36, and in the embodiment of FIGS. 14-14D is selectively formedon the sidewalls of such pillars. Such selective formation may occur by,for example, oxidation of the pillar sidewalls in applications in whichthe semiconductor material 22 comprises silicon (or other material whichmay be oxidized to form suitable gate dielectric material). Theconductive material 50 is formed over the gate dielectric material 46,and over the pillars 36. Notably, the conductive material 50 entirelyfills the void regions 78, and thus fills spaces between thesemiconductor pillars 36 along the rows 40 (as shown in FIG. 14A).

Referring to FIGS. 15-15D, assembly 10 is shown at a process stagefollowing that of FIGS. 14-14D, and alternative to that of FIGS. 10-10D.The conductive material 50 is etched to form the linear conductivestructures 52. The gate dielectric material 46 is shown to be removedfrom along regions of the pillars 36 exposed by the etch of theconductive material 50 (FIG. 15C). In other embodiments, the gatedielectric material may not be removed from along such regions.

Referring to FIGS. 16-16D, assembly 10 is shown at a process stagefollowing that of FIGS. 15-15D, and alternative to that of FIGS. 11-11D.Advantageously, the linear structures 52 wrap entirely around the secondmaterial pillars 36 (as is visible in FIG. 16).

The transistors 62 are formed at the process stage of FIGS. 16-16D, andthe wordlines 55-59 extend along the transistors. However, in contrastto the embodiment of FIGS. 11-11D, that of FIGS. 16-16D has thewordlines wrapping entirely around the semiconductor material pillars36. Accordingly, the transistor gates may wrap entirely around thesemiconductor material pillars 36, which may improve coupling betweenthe gates 70 and the channel regions 68.

As noted above in referring to the processing stage of FIG. 4, theprotective capping material 30 may comprise multiple materials in someapplications. FIGS. 17 and 17A show assembly 10 at a processing stageanalogous to that of FIGS. 4 and 4A, but in which the protective cappingmaterial 30 comprises two compositions 80 and 82. In some applications,the composition 80 may be an oxide liner; and may, for example,comprise, consist essentially of, or consist of silicon dioxide. Thecomposition 82 may, for example, comprise, consist essentially of, orconsist of silicon nitride. The oxide liner 80 may alleviate undesiredstresses which may occur if the nitride-containing composition 82 isdirectly deposited on some of the underlying materials. Additionally, oralternatively, the oxide liner may be utilized as a barrier to precludecharges from migrating into the silicon nitride composition, andaccordingly to alleviate problems that may be associated withcharge-trapping characteristics of the nitride-containing composition82.

Referring to FIGS. 18 and 18A, construction 10 is shown at a processingstage subsequent to that of FIGS. 17 and 17A, and specifically afterplanarization (e.g., polishing) to form the planarized upper surface 29.Subsequently, the assembly of FIGS. 18 and 18A may be subjected toprocessing described above for fabrication of transistors.

Some embodiments include structures of the type described above withreference to FIGS. 11-11D and 16-16D. Such structures may be consideredto comprise pillars 36 of semiconductor material 22, with such pillarsbeing arranged in rows 40 extending along the direction of axis 7 (whichmay be referred to as a first direction in some embodiments). The rowscomprise intervening spacing regions 90 between the pillars 36 (withregions 90 being labeled in FIGS. 11A and 16A). The pillars have uppersurfaces at first height H1, and the intervening spacing regionscomprise spacing structures 92 having upper surfaces at a second heightH2, which is less than the first height. The embodiment of FIG. 11Ashows spacing structures 92 which are insulative, and the embodiment ofFIG. 16A shows spacing structures 92 which are conductive.

The rows 40 are spaced from one another by gap regions 94 (FIGS. 11 and16), and the linear conductive structures 52 are between the rows 40 andextend along the first direction of axis 7 within the gap regions. Twoof the linear structures 52 are within each of the gap regions 94, andare spaced from one another by a separating region 96 (shown in FIGS.11B, 11C, 16B and 16C). The separating region 96 has a floor section 98(shown in FIGS. 11B and 16B), with such floor section having anundulating surface 99 that extends across semiconductor segments 100 andinsulative segments 102. The semiconductor segments 100 are higher thanthe insulative segments 102 due to the insulative material 24 havingbeen recessed at the processing stage of FIGS. 8-8D. The semiconductorsegments 100 may be higher than the insulative segments 102 by anysuitable amount, and in some embodiments may be at least about 5 Åhigher, at least about 10 Å higher, at least about 5 nm higher, etc. Thefloor section may be covered by other materials in a final construction,and FIG. 16B shows the spacing material 48 over the floor section.

The embodiments of FIGS. 11B and 16B show the semiconductor segments 100and insulative segments 102 alternating with one another along thedirection of axis 7 (with the axis 7 being shown relative to the topviews of FIGS. 11 and 16; and being shown in FIGS. 11B and 16B). In someembodiments, the directions of axes 5 and 7 may be referred to as firstand second directions, respectively; and in other embodiments thedirections of axes 5 and 7 may be instead referred to as second andfirst directions, respectively.

The structures discussed above may be incorporated into electronicsystems. Such electronic systems may be used in, for example, memorymodules, device drivers, power modules, communication modems, processormodules, and application-specific modules, and may include multilayer,multichip modules. The electronic systems may be any of a broad range ofsystems, such as, for example, cameras, wireless devices, displays, chipsets, set top boxes, games, lighting, vehicles, clocks, televisions,cell phones, personal computers, automobiles, industrial controlsystems, aircraft, etc.

Unless specified otherwise, the various materials, substances,compositions, etc. described herein may be formed with any suitablemethodologies, either now known or yet to be developed, including, forexample, atomic layer deposition (ALD), chemical vapor deposition (CVD),physical vapor deposition (PVD), etc.

The terms “dielectric” and “insulative” may be utilized to describematerials having insulative electrical properties. The terms areconsidered synonymous in this disclosure. The utilization of the term“dielectric” in some instances, and the term “insulative” (or“electrically insulative”) in other instances, may be to providelanguage variation within this disclosure to simplify antecedent basiswithin the claims that follow, and is not utilized to indicate anysignificant chemical or electrical differences.

The particular orientation of the various embodiments in the drawings isfor illustrative purposes only, and the embodiments may be rotatedrelative to the shown orientations in some applications. Thedescriptions provided herein, and the claims that follow, pertain to anystructures that have the described relationships between variousfeatures, regardless of whether the structures are in the particularorientation of the drawings, or are rotated relative to suchorientation.

The cross-sectional views of the accompanying illustrations only showfeatures within the planes of the cross-sections, and do not showmaterials behind the planes of the cross-sections, unless indicatedotherwise, in order to simplify the drawings.

When a structure is referred to above as being “on” or “against” anotherstructure, it can be directly on the other structure or interveningstructures may also be present. In contrast, when a structure isreferred to as being “directly on” or “directly against” anotherstructure, there are no intervening structures present.

Structures (e.g., layers, materials, etc.) may be referred to as“extending vertically” to indicate that the structures generally extendupwardly from an underlying base (e.g., substrate). Thevertically-extending structures may extend substantially orthogonallyrelative to an upper surface of the base, or not.

Some embodiments include a method for fabricating integrated circuitry.An assembly is formed to comprise first rails alternating with secondrails. The first rails comprise semiconductor material, and the secondrails comprise insulative material. The first and second rails extendalong a first direction. The first rails are capped with a firstprotective capping material. The second rails are recessed relative tothe first rails, with the second rails being recessed to a depth belowbottom surfaces of the first protective capping material. Secondprotective capping material is formed over the recessed second rails.Trenches are formed which extend along a second direction. The seconddirection crosses the first direction. The trenches extend through thefirst and second protective capping materials, and into the first andsecond rails. The trenches are spaced from one another by interveninglinear structures comprising alternating first and second pillars. Thefirst pillars comprise the semiconductor material, and the secondpillars comprise the insulative material. the first pillars within eachof the intervening linear structures are configured as a row of thefirst pillars. Sidewalls of the second pillars are recessed relative tosidewalls of the first pillars. The recessing converts the trenches intolinear guides which extend along the second direction and which havesidewall regions comprising the rows of the first pillars. the linearguides have sidewall segments along the sidewall regions, with thesidewall segments comprising sidewalls of the first pillars. After saidrecessing of the sidewalls of the second pillars, gate dielectricmaterial is formed along the sidewall segments of the linear guides, andlinear conductive structures are formed within the linear guides andalong the gate dielectric material. the linear conductive structuresextend along the second direction.

Some embodiments include a method for fabricating integrated circuitry.An assembly is formed to comprise first rails alternating with secondrails. The first rails comprise semiconductor material, and the secondrails comprise insulative material. The first and second rails extendalong a first direction. The first rails are capped with a firstprotective capping material. The second rails are recessed relative tothe first rails to form first trenches extending along the firstdirection, with the second rails being recessed to a depth below bottomsurfaces of the first protective capping material. Second protectivecapping material is formed within the first trenches and over the firstprotective capping material. A planarization process is used to removethe second protective capping material from over the first protectivecapping material while leaving the second protective capping materialwithin the first trenches. Second trenches are formed to extend along asecond direction, with the second direction crossing the firstdirection. The second trenches extend through the first and secondprotective capping materials, and into the first and second rails. Thesecond trenches are spaced from one another by intervening regionscomprising alternating first and second pillars. The first pillarscomprise the semiconductor material, and the second pillars comprise theinsulative material. Sidewalls of the second pillars are recessedrelative to sidewalls of the first pillars. After said recessing of thesidewalls of the second pillars, gate dielectric material is formedalong the first pillars, and linear conductive structures are formedalong the gate dielectric material. The linear conductive structuresextend along the second direction.

Some embodiments include an assembly which includes pillars ofsemiconductor material. The pillars are arranged in rows extending alonga first direction. The rows comprise intervening spacing regions betweenthe pillars of semiconductor material. The pillars of semiconductormaterial have upper surfaces at a first height, and the interveningspacing regions have spacing structures with upper surfaces at a secondheight below the first height. The rows are spaced from one another bygap regions. Linear conductive structures are within the gap regionsbetween the rows and extend along the first direction. Two of the linearconductive structures are within each of the gap regions and are spacedapart from one another by a separating region. The separating region hasa floor section with an undulating surface that extends acrosssemiconductor segments and insulative segments. The semiconductorsegments are higher than the insulative segments. Transistors comprisechannel regions within the pillars of semiconductor material, andcomprise gates within the conductive structures.

In compliance with the statute, the subject matter disclosed herein hasbeen described in language more or less specific as to structural andmethodical features. It is to be understood, however, that the claimsare not limited to the specific features shown and described, since themeans herein disclosed comprise example embodiments. The claims are thusto be afforded full scope as literally worded, and to be appropriatelyinterpreted in accordance with the doctrine of equivalents.

1-21. (canceled)
 22. An assembly, comprising: pillars of semiconductormaterial, with said pillars of semiconductor material being arranged inrows extending along a first direction; the rows comprising interveningspacing regions between the pillars of semiconductor material; thepillars of semiconductor material having upper surfaces at a firstheight, and the intervening spacing regions comprising spacingstructures having upper surfaces at a second height below the firstheight; the rows being spaced from one another by gap regions; linearconductive structures within the gap regions between the rows andextending along the first direction; two of the linear conductivestructures being within each of the gap regions and being spaced apartfrom one another by a separating region; the separating region having afloor section with an undulating surface that extends acrosssemiconductor segments and insulative segments; the semiconductorsegments being higher than the insulative segments; channel regionswithin the pillars of semiconductor material; gates within the linearconductive structures; and transistors comprising the channel regionsand the gates.
 23. The assembly of claim 22 wherein the semiconductorsegments and insulative segments alternate with one another along thefirst direction.
 24. The assembly of claim 22 wherein the spacingstructures are insulative.
 25. The assembly of claim 22 wherein thespacing structures are conductive.
 26. The assembly of claim 22 whereinthe linear conductive structures are comprised by wordlines; and furthercomprising: digit lines under the pillars of semiconductor material andextending along a second direction which intersects the first direction;memory cells coupled with the transistors, with each of the memory cellsbeing uniquely addressed by one of the wordlines in combination with oneof the digit lines.